The history of the vibrator – from hysteria to pleasure

Studies show that more than 50% of people use sex toys, either alone or with a partner. The sex toy industry is a multi billion-dollar industry. The majority of sex toys aim to help achieve orgasm and most involve vibration of some description.

As early as the 13^th century, women were supposedly susceptible to a disease called ‘hysteria’ a condition whose symptoms included chronic anxiety, irritability, insomnia, sexual frustration, and a bloated stomach. By the mid-19th century the problem was reported to affect up to 75% of the female population. It was thought that the condition was due to an overactive uterus. Up until the 20^th century, the majority of Western men did not believe that women had sexual desires.

According to the theory of American historian Rachel Maines, Victorian doctors felt the best way to cure hysteria was ‘pelvic massage’ which was achieved by the doctor stimulating the woman’s vulva and vagina until she achieved orgasm. This procedure was called hysterical paroxysm. Doctors used their fingers to relieve women of the symptoms of hysteria. Rachel claims it was one of the main procedures performed by Victorian doctors but the poor doctors found the method tedious and time consuming. But not everyone agrees with Rachel’s theory.

After the invention of electricity, Dr. J. Mortimer Granville pioneered the labor-saving vibrator in the 1880s, when his electromechanical invention was patented.  His device was used all over the body to treat various ailments. Rachel Maines hypothesises that vibrators were used to treat hysteria but Dr Granville denied that his vibrator was used for this purpose. According to Rachel, there are reports that its use was initially restricted to the doctors surgery but soon Victorian and Edwardian gentlewomen purchased vibrators to use at home. Since masturbation was taboo, their real use was disguised and they were advertised as body vibrators rather than vaginal vibrators. One 1903 advertisement in the Sears Catalogue described the vibrator as “a delightful companion … all the pleasures of youth … will throb within you….”

In the 1920s, vibrators started to appear in pornography so its real use became blatantly clear. This made their use socially unacceptable and they were hard to come by until the 1960s.

In 1966, Jon H. Tavel applied for a patent for the “Cordless Electric Vibrator for Use on the Human Body”, ushering in the modern personal vibrator. Vibrators have been slowing growing in their visibility especially after a landmark episode of Sex and the City in 1998 in which the character Charlotte becomes addicted to a rabbit vibrator.

Vibrators are used to stimulate the clitoris, vagina, vulva, anus, and can be used in a man to stimulate the penis and anus. Some are shaped like penis’s, some are designed to just stimulate the clitoris, and some are egg shaped to be inserted into the vagina. There are also G spot vibrators, those that can be set to a timer to wake you up with an orgasm, anal vibrators, vibrators that can be used hands free, undercover vibrators that are shaped like everyday objects such as a lipstick, dual and triple area vibrators that stimulate everything and the vibrating cock ring for men. Sex therapists often suggest the use of a vibrator for women having trouble reaching orgasm.

Image credit and read more – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bizarre-history-gynecology-hysteria-orgasms-evolution-hector